I was looking for our cat Sassy after the raccoon banditos incident. For days she was missing. I didn’t understand what was happening, she was always near the house. Sometimes she would visit the neighbors, other times sleeping on the front lawn under a tree in the shade. Other times she would be sleeping on the back porch. But, this time it was different. We called, and she didn’t respond. Finally, I saw her approaching the house, then she turned to the neighbor’s house and fell asleep on their porch. Why? Because Sassy was a wounded warrior. She no longer felt safe around the house. Even though the raccoons were gone. She still had vivid memories of her experience. We had to make an effort and bring our cat home. She was a lost cat that needed to come home. I have been around many cats and dogs while they are sleeping. At times, when they have had a bad experience they often twitch and make noises. So my Sassy has become a wounded warrior. We had to make a choice. Do we wait weeks for her to finally come home? Or do we approach her, pet her, hug her, play with her, and bring her home into the arms of love?
Do you know we have many members in our church who are also wounded warriors? For one reason or another they have been hurt, and are afraid of walking back into our churches. Some were wounded because of what was said to them. Others because of how their family was treated. Some because they wandered from the faith and are afraid to come back into the church in fear of how they might be treated. Many wounded warriors are missing from our churches. Too often we take the approach of waiting for the wounded soul to come back home to us. We assume that they need time to heal. Time to get their thoughts together. Time, time, and more time. All soldiers know that you don’t leave your men behind. He or she is wounded, or lost, or in fear, or incapable of returning to camp. What that soldier needs is to be rescued and brought home. Yet, often, we as a church leave our wounded behind.
Christ set the best example for the church. “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.” Luke 15:4-6 Christ doesn’t wait to seek and to save that lost sheep. Upon discovering that the poor sheep was missing, He took action. The Bible says in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of man is come to seekand to save that which was lost.”
Do you have friends in the church that have been wounded, wandered, or wavered and are no longer home? They need to be prayed for, searched for, and brought home. Very often we look to the pastor to search our lost friends. The truth of the matter is that our friends are our responsibility. “The shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing does not look carelessly upon the flock that is safely housed, and say, “I have ninety and nine, and it will cost me too much trouble to go in search of the straying one. Let him come back, and I will open the door of the sheepfold, and let him in.” No; no sooner does the sheep go astray than the shepherd is filled with grief and anxiety. He counts and recounts the flock. When he is sure that one sheep is lost, he slumbers not. He leaves the ninety and nine within the fold, and goes in search of the straying sheep. The darker and more tempestuous the night and the more perilous the way, the greater is the shepherd’s anxiety and the more earnest his search. He makes every effort to find that one lost sheep.” Christ Object Lessons p.187
How do we treat these precious members when they return home? Do we remind them of their past? Do we remind them of how they wandered from home? No! We treat them like the prodigal son. We welcome the lost soul with arms of love.
“With what relief he hears in the distance its first faint cry. Following the sound, he climbs the steepest heights, he goes to the very edge of the precipice, at the risk of his own life. Thus he searches, while the cry, growing fainter, tells him that his sheep is ready to die. At last his effort is rewarded; the lost is found. Then he does not scold it because it has caused him so much trouble. He does not drive it with a whip. He does not even try to lead it home. In his joy he takes the trembling creature upon his shoulders; if it is bruised and wounded, he gathers it in his arms, pressing it close to his bosom, that the warmth of his own heart may give it life. With gratitude that his search has not been in vain, he bears it back to the fold.” Christ Object Lessons p.188
This Sabbath, let us pray for and search for our wounded warriors.
Angel
Angel J. Rodriguez, D.Min
Houston Central – Senior Pastor
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